A “mini moon” will pass by Earth this weekend. This small asteroid, roughly 10 meters in diameter-the size of a bus-is going to be temporarily captured by the gravitational forces of Earth as it moves around our planet for two months before going away.
– It is a small asteroid measuring approximately 10 meters in diameter, roughly the size of a bus.
– It was discovered earlier this month in August by astronomers from Complutense University in Spain and named Asteroid 2024 PT5
– According to the report by the American Astronomical Society, its discovery has been attributed to Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and his brother Raúl de la Fuente Marcos
– This asteroid will orbit the Earth for nearly 57 days before it departs without completing an orbit.
– It is expected to leave Earth’s gravitational pull on 25 November and is due to come back in 2055 to pass by.
No, this mini moon would not be detectable to the naked eye or with amateur telescopes across Earth. According to astronomer Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, however, “it can be seen with relatively large, research-grade telescopes”.
Astronomer from MIT, Richard Binzel has made a suggestion that mini moons are more common than we would probably think. The last known mini moon was found in the year 2020. “This happens with some frequency, but we rarely see them because they’re very small and very hard to detect,” he explained. “Only recently has our survey capability reached the point of spotting them routinely.”
We don’t know if this is an asteroid or a chunk of the moon that got blasted out,” says astronomer Richard Binzel.
